Good evening, everyone. Welcome to GeekParty. Tonight, we’re going to be reading some user reviews of DmC, the reboot of the popular Devil May Cry series.

Ah-hem.

man besides the big changes i was definetly hoping a at least playable game, but the wig joke was a greath #$%¨$##$%, man the game sucks in everything, the combos is simple and the hystory is tremendous infantible, well now i put my hopes on metal gear rising, at least raiden looks like a real male android , not like a **** like this hero , shame on capcom to allow they do this to a briliant game like dmc series.

But it doesn’t stop there.

I was a long-ass time hustla of DMC, but dis DmC aint tha same stupid-ass game I once loved. Y’all KNOW dat **** **** Da combat was touted ta be mo’ accessible yo, but I found it too easy as **** as a veteran of tha previous game. When tha game do let you play its a slow button masher but action is readily interrupted by cutscenes n’ tha whole experience became a annoyizzle by tha end of thangs. Da weapon switchin was not instant like I felt dat it should be, tha lag between mah trigger pulls n’ tha actual up in game action was noticeable n’ irritatin. Da fire n’ ice enemies done cooked up tha game mo’ of a cold-ass lil chore when fightin up in areaz of mixed enemies, dis severely limited mah chizzlez n’ combos would fall flat as tha lack of lock-on would bust Dante attackin up in tha wrong directions. Da rap was abysmal yo, but I don’t cop action game fo’ tha story. I wish all game had tha option ta bust a cap up in an unborn baby tho

Umm. I’m not entirely sure the point of these. Do people seriously feel better when they type in angry words into their computer? Because I mean, it sure seems like it.

Somehow, we continue on with one of the better user reviews:

DISCLAIMER: As with all reviews, they should be taken with a grain of salt as they are opinions and like opinions they differ considerably from person to person. Review: DmC: Devil May Cry is an decent game within it’s own merits but falls short in many other area for one the combat is accessible enough for anyone of any level of gaming to pick up this game and almost immediately began to enjoy it. The combat is made to be as gratifying as possible for players, making the player feel accomplished with it’s combo system. The combat is done really well, however my major complaints are simply that there isn’t enough of it nor is it challenging enough and nowhere near as exciting as the games before it in the series. The game tries it’s best to offer variety in its combat with new enemies, new weapons, and new abilities but the game limits you in how you approach enemies, said enemies require said weapon in order to be defeated. That kills the fun that DMC is known for, being “stylish” gone with the days of multiple styles, multiple move sets/weapons, almost every fight can be approached how the player wanted. In DmC it’s approached depends solely on how the developer’s want you to. Lack of player creativity in this department.

Moving on to the stage design. The stage design is brilliant; Ninja Theory knocked out this one out of the park, the platforming is amazing and Ninja Theory should really consider making a platforming based game; they’ve proven themselves well in this area. Unfortunately in DmC there is simply way too much of it, and not enough combat. The game feels slowed down and tedious half way through the game due to the over abundance of floating platforms the player must jump on/interact with. It really conflicts with what they were trying to do (a fast paced action game). In regard to the story it feels like it’s trying to be too many things at once, it wants to be hardcore, or it wants to be comedic or it wants to be shocking or it wants to be suspenseful. It just doesn’t know, it’s trying it’s best to excel at all areas but ends up falling short all together and because of this the story (although told in a unique way) becomes uninteresting, protagonist has no character other than trying to appeal to a younger demographic with swears and rude gestures and the like; other characters in the story have little to no personality, become difficult for player to relate to. And a central plot which can be easily determined from the first two missions.

SUMMARY
+Good combat!
+Really good, well thought out stage design.
+Very accessible
-Excessive platforming detracts from the main focus of the game which is the combat
-Story is unmemorable, tries too hard to be taken seriously
-Characters are unlikeable and have no depth
-Not enough variety in combat
-Graphical downgrade from it’s predecessor
-Limited by it’s engine. (Unreal 3)
4/10 – Game is average at best, although it does well in making combat accessible it falls short in many other areas of the game and is nowhere near the quality in comparison of that of it’s predecessors in the series. If you’re interested in picking up DmC: Devil May Cry, I strongly recommend you give the game a rent before purchasing.

Even one of the better user reviews seems to miss the mark: Four out of ten isn’t average; it’s well below average. Heck, if we use the basic grading system from schooling, an average would be a C, or somewhere around seven out of ten (though there is a completely separate issue regarding review scores, but I digress).

More importantly, however, these people make a fantastic point: This is just their opinion. Heck, all articles and reviews are opinions. The reviews you read here at GeekParty are our opinions. IGN? Giant Bomb? Destructoid? Those are all opinions too. Everyone has the opinions they trust. We just hope you trust ours.

Anyway, we continue on. DmC once again brings Metacritic user reviews into our minds. This isn’t the first time it’s happened. Let’s take a look at Mass Effect 3.

The facial modeling is awful; essentially everyone in the game has a screwed up looking face. The story is some weird romantic kinky **** This is not what AAA games should look like. 0/10: I don’t think this game should exist.

Let’s not forget Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

Metacritic users take a dump on Black ops 3! Of course we do! you fat slob. Unlike you! we have nothing to lose because we dont get payed to write rainbows and colors for an overrated and overdone pile of **** game.

If we want to be taken seriously, then we need to act in a serious manner.

The problem lies within the advancement of the Internet and, more specifically, the two things it’s done. The Internet has given a voice to the previously voiceless and a place for them to voice their opinions. When I was younger, there was pretty much one way to read the opinions on the game industry: magazines. Wanted a job writing for said magazines? You needed a fancy degree and plenty of experience. But this isn’t the 90s anymore. It’s now 2013, and anyone can voice their opinion. Yes, even myself.

But.

I’d like to think of myself as a professional. Well, at least a semi-professional. I’ve been known to say “fuck” or “shit” in an article and, well, some people don’t find that very, you know, professional. As it turns out, I’m not alone. Let’s turn to the r/truegaming section of Reddit, shall we? User Emophia says the following:

I don’t care about his hair color. (honestly the DMC3 DLC costume in DmC looks close enough for me that it might as well be the same dante).

I don’t care about his attitude.

I don’t care about the story.

I do care that I can get a SSS rank by mashing now. Every single DMC game I would try to get SSS every fight, it’s what kept me going it was my main motivation.

I do care that you have to use some weapons to defeat certain enemies, in the other DMC games there were always weapons that were somewhat better against certain enemies or bosses than others, but never mandatory. You always had the freedom to kill anything with any weapon.

I do care that the bosses are apparently very lackluster now, the bosses were my favorite parts of past DMCs, they were always the most challenging and fun parts of the games.

I do care that the game is easy, were normal is as easy as easy mode and the hard mode is the normal.

I would care about the 30fps thing too, but when I buy it It’ll be on a steam sale for the PC version which does support 60 fps, which I cannot imagine not playing DMC at.

They basically turned DmC into god of war combat wise, it might be fine for normal people but for people who played and liked the old DMC for their gameplay/combat it’s a massive step down. Bayonetta is a much better DMC than DmC.

That said the game looks gorgeous sometimes, and it’s a good game, just not dmc.

But you’re not going to find well thought out arguments on Metacritic. Hell, you won’t even find them on the biggest video game-related subreddit, r/gaming; there are random memes and pictures all over that front page. Herein lies the problem with the public conception of gamers: We get angry, and you won’t like us when we’re angry. Sure, we’ve harnessed the power for good; remember Cooper Lawrence? But in all honesty, what does bombarding one’s book, or game, with bad reviews actually accomplish in the long term?

Developers obviously aren’t listening to our user reviews. And if you’re a fan of conspiracy theories, then they’re simply paying journalists more money to give them better reviews. Case in point, Jeff Gerstmann. More recent case in point, CNET and the CES incident.

But that’s not to say it’s impossible to get a hold of developer attention. There’s ways to get them to listen. Obviously, we’re not happy simply because of the new look of Dante. We just have to be more articulate and courteous in our methods. Instead of slamming it’s user review scores and saying, “This game fucking sucks; never buy from this developer again,” we should be saying “I’m not happy with the easier experience in DmC. I get that things were toned down for accessibility, but I wish I could have my insane challenge still. Capcom, why couldn’t you ask Ninja Theory to make a difficulty mode akin to Dante’s Awakening?”